The Senate will be gaveled into session at 2 pm, and the only thing on the agenda is HB 75, the Marriage Equality bill that passed the House on April 23 by a vote of 23 to 18. According to sources and scuttlebutt, Senator Cathy Cloutier and Senator Bob Marshall are voting yes. The only real mystery is the vote of Senator Bethany Hall Long. Those working this bill say they have 12 votes, and if the rest of the whip count stays as I display below, that would mean Hall Long is voting yes. Until it happens though, I won’t believe it. Perhaps Senators Ennis or Venables will change their minds and be the 12th vote. Or perhaps Ernie Lopez of Greg Lavelle will surprise, though it is hard to see how Lopez survives politically in his party if he does vote yes. Lavelle may vote yes given his upstate district, but if he has hopes of higher office he will have to deal with his rabid bigoted Republican base, who will not take kindly to a yes vote.

But all of that is academic, since, if all the Senators in the yes column stay true to their pronouncements, Marriage Equality will be the law of the land.

Tom, when DOMA falls (as expected) and the California Hate Amendment is struck down, the issue will fall to the states. Eventually the bigots in Georgia will die and in 30-40 years you will have equality.

Ok, so I guess that means that Hall Long was ordered to stay there until Marshall arrived. Now that Marshall is there, Hall Long will not vote. I am sorry, but I have to call that what it is: cowardice.

Marshall could have just remained silent and voted “Yes”. He deserves credit for speaking up on this issue, and especially taking on the Catholic Church.
Will be interesting to see if Cloutier speaks up and, more important, if she votes “Yes”.

hopefully Venables can be primaried in the next election if this doesn’t go through.
That’s what happened in RI,and it’s what needs to happen here.
Also,this should be a reminder that just because someone has a D next to their name,doesn’t mean they are an ally of ours.

Senator Venables, if Civil Unions should be enough, then letting black people sit in the middle of the bus would have been enough. Please sit down and stop embarrassing yourself and the Great State of Delaware.

And on a lighter note I’d like to see a Stop, Drop and Roll Contest between Chris Christie and Bonini. While I remain a proud Delawarean my money is still on Christie, he’s got that humpty dumpty thing going on.

Two of the cases he cites are from states that don’t have marriage equality. They do have discrimination laws which states you can’t refuse to provide public services to gay and lesbian couples based on religious or moral disapproval.

It is heartening to see that the argument against marriage equality has come down to this crap. They no longer even try to make a logical, legal claim to support discrimination. Just a bunch of Voodoo that most reasonable people see right through.

Can somebody find me the Delaware temple? According to the Queen James Bible, when this passes, the lintel of the temple will be torn asunder, and since I can’t get to Dover I wanna see the lintel get all broken by the Hand of God.

I can’t take much more of this drivel. Now there is a sermon by a Catholic priest? Come on. Maybe the DE Senate can hear from a representative of the Vatican Bank when it is drafting its corporate disclosure laws.

Been following some of the comments and I have to say that the speculation about who’s voting for/against and the accompanying hyperbole is almost laughable. Seriously, I know this is a stressful situation, but threatening people with defeat at the polls because they aren’t in their seats at 2pm or assuming someone is voting against the bill and calling them a coward without talking to them is ridiculous.

No word on that Stuart. I assume the Governor will want to have a huge event like with the Civil Union bill at the Queen. So probably in a week or so at the earliest. The only time I can recall the Governor signing a bill on the same day is on June 30, the last day of the session.

The pastor says his diocese (or whatever their political subdivision is called) has 25,000 members. He did not address how many of those parishioners are in favor of marriage equality. We know that the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is firmly against SSM, but many of the parishioners do not subscribe to this.

http://www.iandrinstitute.org/Delaware.htm
Delaware allows less popular participation in lawmaking than any other state. Delaware does not allow initiatives or referendums at the state or local level, and it is the only state in the nation that does not require popular approval of constitutional amendments.

@Social Justice Lady–there may be no referenda in Delaware, but where I live Joe Miro is my rep and Greg Lavelle is my senator, and I intend to see that their votes on this issue are very much “on the ballot” next time around. They certainly have not represented the majority view of their constituents. And I think that is true elsewhere in Delaware.

“Can somebody enlighten me on why non-Senators are debating a bill on the floor of the Senate?”

In Delaware, senators have the option of granting citizens the privilege of the floor. It may not be common, but it is possible that any citizen could be found speaking before the senate on any given bill. My guess is that the opponents of this bill have granted an inordinate number of people the privilege of the floor.

Just for the record, in my opinion, there is only ONE God who loves everyone UNCONDITIONALLY. He knows everything about us and He formed everyone in His own image. This can be found in the Torah, Bible, Koran etc. Some religious teachers just don’t KNOW God even though they think they are so righteous. I attend Epworth UMC in Rehoboth Beach. ALL are welcome and I hope to see you there.

Lopez was referring to a mailing that went out during his election campaign. He pulled the same tearful victimhood thing in a debate in the district before the election. Pretty unhappy with him. He’s my senator but not if I can do anything about it.

Someone should name a Port-A-Potty after Lopez. Can you imagine the sheer volume of hate-filled invective he’d receive if he had announced his support for HB 75? Would’ve dwarfed anything he’s received so far.

heragain, my comment was to emphasize that if PettyJohn wants his children’s education to be confined to his religious beliefs, he should exercise the free choice to homeschool them. Religious instruction is the responsibility of parents, pastors, and parishioners not public school teachers.

Even if it’s a choice … oh I dunno.. like religion is a choice.. it should still be protected because its my choice… the only “choice” I made was to not lie to myself, my family and my friends. on with the vote!!

Senator Ennis, we are not moving too fast, We are moving at the speed intended; the speed at which the accumulation of the proper number of votes to pass equality has occurred in Delaware. That day is today.

Sen. Peterson: “My partner Vicki and I have been together for 24 years. Last year, we entered into a civil union.” “I didn’t choose to be gay, anymore than heterosexuals choose to be straight.” “I am not broken.”

Listening from Minnesota where our House will have its debate and vote the day after tomorrow. We have 134 house members – at least we don’t allow non-members to speak on the floor – this will take hours even so.

Delaware Dem, she did break news though. She has been out among friends, family, etc., but not publicly. You would not find any reference to her sexual orientation or partner in the traditional news media and she was not listed on the Victory Fund’s list of openly LGBTQ elected officials. This is a new step for her and a welcomed one!

Outstanding coverage here at this blog. Thank you so much and congratulations!

I have one request: please do some follow-up posts on what was really going on with Hall Long. I’d be interested to know what was causing the anguish – pressure from her dad to kill her inheritance, legitimate moral conflict, pressure from the Dem leadership, etc.

I have learned so much about Delaware politics. It really is like 2 different states in one. If you listen to Venables and Hocker without knowing who they are, you’d think you were listening to legislators from the Deep South.

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard on this bill! Congratulations to everyone who will now have their basic civil rights legalized and respected. Congratulations to each and every one of you who took the time to contact your legislators and contacted others to have THEM contact your legislators.

Thank you SO much to all who voted yes. A particular THANK YOU to Senator Cathy Cloutier. A lawn sign beckons for you on our lawn unto perpetuity. I am just THRILLED that you did the right thing.

Now, everyone go out and PAR-TAY!! We’re gonna party out here in Indiana!

Congratulations Delaware. And thank you to this site for all the inside info on the process there, it seemed to be correct at most or all points. People across this country and beyond were paying close attention.

Greetings from California, and congratulations to everyone there in Delaware! Thank you all for all your hard work, and enjoy the weddings! You’ve earned it! Thanks to everyone here for live blogging through these comments for all of us who could not hear the live audio feed. Now we just have to wait a few more weeks for the Prop 8 decision and we’ll join all of you who are living in the 21st century!

If you want to follow Minnesota House on Thursday, go to this link, http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/htv/schedule.asp and then select “live video” on the right. From the schedule on that page, it looks like things will begin around 11 am CDT (12 noon EDT).